'Syrian army planting mines along Jordanian border'

Assad government trying to prevent civilians in Deraa, city of Ramtha, from escaping deteriorating security situation, 'Al Ghad' reports.

Syrian soldiers gather near Deraa_311.
(photo credit:Reuters)

The Syrian army planted landmines at the border with Jordan in order to "restrict Syrians access to humanitarian asylum in Jordan," a week after reports that Syria was laying explosives on the border with Lebanon as well, Jordanian daily Al Ghad reported Wednesday.

Syria was laying mines on its border with the Hashemite Kingdom in order to prevent Syrian evacuees from the Deraa governate and the city of Ramtha from entering Jordan, according to an informed source speaking on condition of anonymity to Al Ghad.

Abdullah's comments came
after at
least 40 Syrians were killed in fighting on Monday between forces loyal
to Assad and insurgents in a town near the border with
Jordan, local activists said, in the first case of major armed
resistance to Assad in the region.

The Syrian army has also laid mines on its border with Lebanon, according to local Lebanese officials and witnesses.

One man, Emad Khaled al-Awsheh, was heading back from Syria into Lebanon when he stepped on an explosive, blowing off part of his leg, according to Reuters. The incident took place at Huwaishat on the Syrian side of the border, neighboring northern Lebanon.

Syria may be trying to control the mass exodus of its citizens while Assad and forces loyal to him continue a crackdown on separatist elements and anti-regime protesters that has claimed the lives of more than 3,500 Syrians, according to Human Rights Watch.

Activists claim that Syria has been randomly placing the dangerous explosives, without regard to the villages nearby.

“To place an indiscriminate weapon near villages and places where children
were previously known to frequent is absolutely unacceptable,” the mayor
of the northern Lebanese village of Kneissah told Lebanon's Daily Star.

According to local officials speaking to the Star, Syria has planted mines along the length of the norther border, through disputed
territory, and along Lebanon's eastern border with Syria.

More than 19,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring Turkey since
violence began eight months ago between forces loyal to President Bashar
Assad and anti-regime activists, according to the New York Times. About 7,600 still reside in refugee camps there.

An
estimated 6,000 evacuees are also living in Lebanon, according to
Dubai-based Al Arabiya.